Lawmaker to revive 'knockout game' bill

As Legislature session wraps, prospects low

Jan. 1, 2014

Written by

Kevin Penton

Asbury Park Press

A pedestrian is walking along the street when someone runs up to him or her. Before the pedestrian realizes what is happening, he or she is struck. Hard.

Whether the action is called a sucker punch, a jumping or an example of the “knockout game,” a proposed state law would net the assailant a minimum one-year prison term.

“We need to send a message that one strike, and you will be out and in jail,” said Assemblyman Ronald Dancer, R-12, the bill’s co-sponsor.

The bill was introduced in mid-December and faces long odds of being adopted before the new Legislature convenes Jan. 14.

State Police are in communication with local police departments about the knockout game issue, said Lt. Stephen Jones, who declined to say whether there is any specific directive from above for how to deal with it. Currently, the state does not have a specific reporting category for such an incident, he said.

It may be difficult for authorities to discern whether someone struck by someone else on the street is the victim of a fight, a random assault, an attempted robbery or the knockout game, Jones said.

“This is a cowardly act,” he said. “We’re hoping members of the public recognize the severity of it.”

A 46-year-old homeless man died Sept. 10 in Hoboken apparently after he was attacked randomly on the street. Three teens were charged with his slaying.

In Houston last month, a 27-year-old white man was arrested on federal hate-crime charges after he shot a video of himself striking a 78-year-old black man and saying “knockout” afterward.

Steven Dranoff, a psychologist who heads a consulting firm that specializes in bullying and in violence prevention, believes many of those who go out looking to strike a random person likely have a misperception of their own peers’ motivations for participating in the act.

“These are people with high levels of narcissism and violence and low levels of empathy,” said Dranoff, who believes society needs to improve how individuals handle conflicts and their own issues if things like the knockout game are to end.

“Attacks like this are not new,” Jones said. “People in groups have been attacking lone pedestrians for as long as anyone can remember.”

Back in the early 1700s, newspaper stories circulated of groups of young people who called themselves Mohocks roaming the streets of London, punching random pedestrians.

During the late 1980s, media reports abounded of young people in New York forming groups and going “wilding,” or causing general mayhem.

These days, with the proliferation of cellphone cameras, videos of street fights can be found on various websites online. Some videos round up the highlights of various street brawls, where one of the participants is knocked to the ground.

“We live in a world where violence is the norm, where it is often an accepted way of dealing with a conflict,” Dranoff said. “We need to spend time teaching more people about empathy.”

Before that happens, Dancer wants those convicted of trying to or causing a person to lose consciousness because of a single physical strike to serve a mandatory minimum of one-third to one-half of a three-to-five-year prison sentence before they are eligible for parole.

Third-degree aggravated assault normally does not lead to imprisonment, said Dancer, who believes it would be up to the courts or a jury to decide whether someone is guilty of simply getting into a fight with someone else or of engaging in the knockout game.

Dancer said he is unaware of any knockout game incidents in his Central Jersey district. With only a few days left in the current legislative session, he acknowledges the bill’s prospects of being considered are very low. Dancer intends to reintroduce the bill once the new session begins.

“This is not a game,” Dancer said. “People who are thinking of doing this need to know that the penalties will soon become more severe.”

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